Welcome to the official site of India Drummond – urban fantasy, sci-fi, and romance author. Ordinary Angels, her debut novel, comes out April 2011!
I get to today’s quick tip by a long, circuitous route, but it bears explanation. First, I should start by saying that I generally try to be accepting and open in my relationships with other people. I’m not perfect, and so expecting them to be perfect doesn’t seem fair. Not only that, but approaching every human interaction with “Okay, but if you do x, y or z, you’re in big trouble!” seems, well, tiresome.
There is a flip side, however, and that is today’s Quick Tip.
Quick Tip #8: Having a friend that is an asshole is like having a mean dog. Eventually, they will turn on you.
To see a perfect example of this, at least where wildlife is concerned, consider the man in Ontario who was recently mauled to death by his 300 kg* pet tiger. (*660 pounds to the Americans or 47 stones-2 for the Brits.)
There have been stories like this probably for as long as people have been keeping pets. Wild animals are wild, and you can’t domesticate something that doesn’t want to be domesticated.
I think, however, this also extends to people. If, when thinking about a friend, you hear a little voice that says, “You know… he’s a real prick.” ..listen to it.
Scorpions sting you and bears will maul you and tigers will eat your face, and yes, assholes will turn on you. It’s just what they do.
Does this mean we should be less accepting of our friends? Probably not. I like to think more about the good in the world than the bad. But it’s worth remembering that although people can change, they rarely do. Leopards and spots.
I'm a lot of other things, but mostly I'm a writer. I like books with fast action, scary killers, fantasy worlds, and smutty sex. Maybe even all four at once. My novel Ordinary Angels debuts from Lyrical Press in April 2011. To read about my other projects, click the My Fiction page. To get in touch with me, click Contact India and send me an email.
A girl had a small boat and her mother sent her to market for three geese and a bag of corn. Coming back, she realized there was a problem: three geese and a large bag of corn wouldn’t fit in her boat. If she took the geese across and returned for the corn, the geese would run away; if she took one goose and the corn then returned for the other two geese, the first one would eat the corn and fly away. Hmmm.
As she pondered, she heard a voice coming from down near her shoe. Will wonders never cease? It was a talking Asp.
“I know how to work this out, and will tell you in exchange for a ride across the river.”
The geese hissed at him, thinking, “Lunch.”
The Asp plead with the girl, “Tuck me inside your shirt; protect me, and I’ll give you the solution to your problem.”
So the girl firmly put her boot on the snake’s head, crushed it and said to the geese, “Lunch is served!”
The moral of our story is: Aesop thought we were idiots.
The moral of MY story is: People are the only things on earth that can make us truly miserable. We have creams for rashes, shots to prevent flu, and Shrinks to help us learn new perceptions, but there is no vaccine against an A-List Hole.
Like the girl in the fable, I’d pull on my big girl panties, laugh at his/her chutzpah, give ‘em what he has coming, and go to lunch.
[ Follow me on Twitter: girlfrenkate ]